Florida Gators senior point guard Scottie Wilbekin has been disciplined by the team for the second time in a seven-month span as the school announced Monday that he has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.

Wilbekin, who spent his first two years with the Gators as a reserve but averaged 9.1 points and a team-high 5.0 assists in a team-most 31.9 minutes per game as Florida’s starting point guard last season, missed the first three contests of the 2012-13 campaign after he was suspended by head coach Billy Donovan just one day before the team opened its season against Georgetown.

“Scottie is a great kid who I think made some choices and did some things that I’m not going to have him a part of,” Donovan said on Nov. 8, 2012. “Like all these guys are in college, they’re all growing and maturing and trying to make decisions and get better and find out and discover who they want to be as people. I think Scottie will learn from this; he’ll grow from this. I think he’ll be better from it.”

Wilbekin was likely to enter the 2013-14 season as the Gators’ starter at point guard though some believe five-star incoming freshman Kasey Hill (Clermont, FL) is a better all-around player. Donovan had recently indicated that Wilbekin and Hill could both start, if the latter earned the opportunity, with one of the two playing off-guard.

Should Wilbekin’s latest suspension carry over into the season, he could miss a significant amount of action considering the length of his previous suspension.

The other two point guards on Florida’s roster last season are no longer with the team as Kenny Boynton graduated and Braxton Ogbuezetransferred to Charlotte after barely seeing the court as a freshman.

I don’t mind if Scottie get suspended for 6-7 games because it will force Billy to give Kasey Hill major minutes. First, this will get him up to speed for the conference schedule and tournament. Second, if Hill comes in a performs above expectations it might create some competition between him and Scottie when Scottie returns. I think these outcomes would be worth a loss to Wisconsin and/or FSU. Plus, neither of those games are a foregone conclusion with Hill in there.

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